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Source document· November 18, 2025

The oldest RIAs are 85. How did they become a $144T industry?

View original at finance.yahoo.com
The oldest RIAs are 85. How did they become a $144T industry? When Howe & Rusling Wealth Management registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment advisory firm almost 85 years ago, the founders were early adopters in a field called investment counseling…
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What we drew from this source

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  • A society whose fiduciaries do not feel compelled to be trustworthy will in the long run be the poorest

    80% confidence
  • The 1940 legislation was result of painstaking study where an agreement was reached between those in the industry and SEC members

    80% confidence
  • Howe & Rusling is really leaning into the fact that they are independent and believe strongly in human connection

    80% confidence
  • Eventually, the rule should be that the entire firm has to be fiduciary in order for advisors to be fiduciary

    80% confidence
  • SEC vs. Capital Gains Research Bureau decision clarified that antifraud provisions in Advisors Act amount to a fiduciary obligation

    80% confidence
  • The 1940 laws have enduring importance because they introduced the concept of a fiduciary standard or fiduciary obligation

    80% confidence
  • Investment advice laws represent an area where fiduciary laws seem to encroach on other principles such as implied contracts and freedom from non-specific regulation

    80% confidence
  • If you serve clients well and understand their objectives, you end up with multigenerational clients

    80% confidence
  • High standards of business morality exacted by securities laws do not permit an investment adviser to trade on market effect of their recommendations without fully and fairly revealing personal interests to clients

    80% confidence
  • The tipping point for RIA growth came in the 1990s with rise of personal computers, digital brokerages and custodial tech systems

    80% confidence
  • Disapproves of the idea that someone could be a fiduciary one minute and take their hat off and be a stockbroker or insurance salesman the next minute

    80% confidence
  • There is no necessity of reviewing in detail the many unhealthy practices which this legislation is designed to eliminate

    80% confidence
  • When thinking of the horrible Depression years, unsure how he survived and wouldn't do it to a dog

    80% confidence
  • RIAs remained a quiet niche side of the industry for a long time until custodial platforms emerged in 1990s

    80% confidence
  • A society will be wealthiest if those who act as fiduciaries self-enforce and follow fiduciary law principles

    80% confidence
  • Howe and Rusling believed in the importance of being a fiduciary and putting clients' interests above their own, and wanted to validate that by registering with SEC

    80% confidence
  • Growth of RIA model has little to do with fiduciary obligation directly, but rather consumers prefer helpful advice over being sold stuff

    80% confidence
  • Disclosure in such situations is needed to preserve climate of fair dealing essential to maintain public confidence in securities industry and preserve economic health of country

    80% confidence
  • The attitude of investment trust industry and investment advisers in urging federal supervision is most commendable

    80% confidence
  • Investment firms in 1940 had common interest in ridding industry of wrongdoers who had tarnished the reputation of the entire industry

    80% confidence
  • Regardless of whether enforced by law, social rules, or cultural pressures, fiduciary rules are a condition to the long-term well-being of a human society

    80% confidence
  • Technology that made it scalable to manage portfolios and collect fees led to RIA model taking off

    80% confidence
  • Howe & Rusling receives emails and calls every day to change their independent status but they are determined to stay independent

    80% confidence
  • Howe and Rusling would be very proud of being one of the earliest RIAs and wonder what took everyone else so long

    80% confidence
  • Some firms may be finding ways to skirt fiduciary rules by having CFPs provide advice under fiduciary duty then standing down as salespeople step in under lesser standard

    80% confidence

Data points we hold from this source

Securities and Exchange Commission · rias over 75 years old89 companies
Securities and Exchange Commission · rias registered before 20187935 companies
Securities and Exchange Commission · client count68400000 clients
Securities and Exchange Commission · employee count1000000 employees
Securities and Exchange Commission · assets under management144.6 trillion_USD
Securities and Exchange Commission · registered rias15870 companies
Securities and Exchange Commission · rias over 50 years old124 companies
Securities and Exchange Commission · registered companies436 companies
Securities and Exchange Commission · account count300000 accounts
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JPMorgan Chase & Co.
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